Welcome to a Week of Eating Indigenous Food 2012. This site honors the Decolonizing Diet Project (DDP), an ambitious, year-long eating challenge directed by Martin Reinhardt, Anishinaabe Ojibway and Assistant Professor of Native American Studies at Northern Michigan University. The “American Indian Health and Diet Project” at KU invites all interested parties to support Martin's project by joining in the SECOND challenge: to eat only pre-contact foods November 2-9, 2012.

Traditional Foods

"Traditional" in the context of these projects means pre-contact foods. No beef, mutton, goat, chicken, pork, milk, butter, cream, wheat flour (no fry bread), rye, barley, okra, black-eyed peas, or any other "Old World" food that many of us have lovingly incorporated into our diets and tribal cultures. No processed foods (Doritoes, Lays Chips, etc), even if the base is corn or potatoes. No chocolate unless it is unsweetened cacao or sweetened with honey from the Melipona bee, fruit, stevia, camas or agave. Be adventurous and try unfamiliar foods! There are many foods to choose from. My American Indian Health and Diet Project site lists and defines many of them.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The remainder of the peppers. I cut the stems off the red ones, the Kung Paos and Tobasco Seasonings, and put them in the food dehydrator. After they're dry, they'll get ground up in the coffee bean grinder to be used as sprinkles on spaghetti, eggs, pizza, potatoes, etc.

Beans are staples at our house and I cook them in the crock pot at least once a week. Black beans are especially nutritious. This weekend I soaked a bag of black beans overnight then the next day tossed the water (some argue that you should use the water, but I normally just pour it in the compost bin). Put in the crock pot along with 6 chopped tomatoes, a chopped onion, black pepper, and three cups of turkey stock then cook 6 hours on high--or longer if you're at work.

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Peppers make nice props

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The tomatoes turn black. Add some salsa and corn bread. Dinner is ready.

Boil the squashes and onion until tender. Drain, put in casserole dish and add the corn meal, agave, pepper then mash. Cook in oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Josh says that it almost tastes like dessert, so maybe I added too much agave--but perhaps not!

Friday, September 28, 2012

This morning I put a turkey breast in the crock pot along with 30 peppers of various colors and sizes from my garden, black pepper, salt and green chile sauce. It cooked 8 hours and was done by the time we were really hungry. I served it with sweet corn and a side of tomatoes and leftover sauteed squash.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Here are a couple of dishes I prepared this weekend. On top are sweet peppers stuffed with venison, onions, zucchini and jalapenos, all chopped very fine (see two pictures at bottom). The bigger the pepper, the easier it is to get the stuffing inside.
Just saute the filling with a bit of vegetable oil until tender, then place inside the halfed (and de-ribbed) peppers, then broil for about ten minutes.

Below is broiled salmon with four different garnishes, from left to rt.: tomatoes, onions and poblano peppers; tomatillo sauce; agave; and red peppers and onions.

Friday, September 21, 2012

It's supposed to frost tonight, so I picked over 100 peppers from my raised bed (left) and from the big garden. There are still many blossoms so I'll cover with a tarp and hope for the best. My hoops aren't large enough to cover the tallest plants so I can't construct a regular cold frame.Here are some of the mild peppers I plan to stuff this weekend.

Another bed of peppers (rt) and butterfly plants in the other bed.

I got a few yellow squashes and zucchini from my garden and the butternut and acorn squashes from the farmer's market. Squash will be a major component in my Week of Indigenous Eating.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Despite the heat, I still have a lot of tomatoes and peppers. The squash slowed down for a few weeks but is now making a comeback. Today I picked a variety of colors. For lunch I cut up a few of the squash, peppers and tomatoes, put in a pan and sauteed with vegetable oil. Here is the recipe:http://www.aihd.ku.edu/recipes/vegetable_saute.html although I only used what was in my garden plus some garlic powder and an onion from a local farm.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Hummus is an Arab "mash" or spread made out of cooked chickpeas, ground sesame (Tahini), olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt. Variations include additional red bell pepper, pine nuts, cilantro, jalapenos, etc. Store bought hummus is very expensive, but you can make it yourself with garbanzo beans from the store (usually about a dollar a can).

I created two completely different kinds of hummus--not really hummus because these are made with squash. Still, is an interesting dip. Regular hummus is about 80 calories per 2 tablespoons (or two chips worth). In the first variation, I sauteed two zucchines, then mixed them in a food processor with 2 cups of cooked wild rice, plus 2 T olive oil, pepper and garlic. The result is above (in the processor). It's sort of gummy from the rice starch, but not bad. It needs to be eaten warm.

Below is another type. I sauteed two zucchines with onions, tomatoes, garlic and 2T of oilve oil.

Below is tabouleh, a Middle Eastern "salad" made of bulghur wheat, with added parsley, rice flour, onion, mint, etc. I bought this in a box as the store. Simply add hot water and olive oil and let it set. After reconstitution it looks like the picture on the left.

Mix the prepared tabouleh with the squash, onions and tomatoes (in a processor or blender). It will not have the same creamy texture as hummus, but it still is interesting. You can add other items such as hot peppers, cilantro, etc. Eat with crackers, carrots or celery. Josh put a bunch on his sandwich.

Monday, June 25, 2012

It's about 102 degrees outside. I mulched my gardens in early spring so I only water every three days. Everything has survived this hot month, but it is going to be challenging to keep the plants going if we have another week of 100-plus days.

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I planted way too many squash plants in these raised beds. Now I can't get in there to pick anything.

A look under the thick canopy. That little whirly is there to scare off rabbits--when the pants were only an inch high, that is. Now a small rabbit stays under the leaves all day. I feed it scraps and so far it hasn't nibbled on my plants.

Cucumber vines have found the ladder.

I picked a few things today, inclduing squash, a zucchini, and peppers. This year I planted several types of tomatoes: Manitoba, Alaskan Fancy, Black Pineapple, Cherokee Purple, Chocolate Cherry, Golden Cherry.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

My daughter Ari created this healthy version of a taco salad yesterday. Instead of using a white tortilla she substituted a tomato tortilla, then baked it in a large bowl instead of deep frying it--like restaurants do. She used vegetable protien crumbles by Morning Star in addition to shredded romaine, peppers, and salsa. She flavored the fake meat with cumin and chili pwder instead of the salty taco seasoning you can buy in packets.

If your group is interested in offering moral support for this 2012 Challenge (you do not have to participate, just like the idea), let me know and I will add your name to the list.

November is Native American Heritage Month. During the first week, participants in this challenge will eat foods indigenous to this hemisphere. Eaters can focus on one tribe; or, because foods may be expensive, out of season, contaminated or not available, participants can choose to eat only one or two indigenous meals per day or, widen the meal possibilities by choosing any foods indigenous to the western hemisphere.

This site is maintained by Devon Mihesuah, the Cora Lee Beers Price Professor and Director of the American Indian Health and Diet Project (AIHD) at the University of Kansas. You will find many links here that connect to the AIHD site for recipes, lists of indigenous foods, resources for food research and gardening tips. Recipes are welcome. Send recipes and diet outlines to my e-mail: mihesuah@ku.edu

Decolonizing Diet Project. Started March 25, 2012 and is Still Going Strong!

Click picture for the Decolonizing Diet Project

American Indian Health and Diet Project

Elk Stew

Recipes, including this one for elk stew (click picture)

Banaha, Pintos and Peppers

Vegetables, fruits and meats indigenous to this hemisphere (click picture)